Moving around

The filesystem is a tree

• Folders (called directories) hold files and other folders, like branches on a tree.
• The very top is /, the root. Your personal folder is your home, written ~.

Looking and moving

• ls lists what is in the current folder.
• cd changes directory — it moves you into a folder:

ls
cd documents

• After cd documents, you are inside documents. Run pwd any time to check where you are.

Handy shortcuts

• cd .. goes up one level (to the parent folder).
• cd with nothing, or cd ~, jumps straight back to your home.
• A path can be relative (documents/work) or absolute (starts with /, like /home/student).

Common mistakes

• cd with no argument goes to your home folder; cd .. goes up one level.
• pwd shows the folder you are in.